AMU Doctoral Handbook
In this section

Last Revision: February 3, 2026

Course Attempt Limits for Graduation Eligibility

To be eligible for graduation at the end of an academic program, students must successfully complete all required coursework within 150% of the total semester hours required for their program.

Program Changes and Degree-Level Clarification

  • Students who change programs, including those who change within the same degree level, are not reset for purposes of maximum course attempt calculations.
  • All unsuccessful course attempts (W and F grades) earned prior to a program change continue to count toward the maximum allowed attempts for the student's current program.
  • This applies regardless of whether the courses apply to the student's current program or degree requirements.

Course attempts include:

  • Courses that a student withdraws from (grade is W).
  • Any courses that a student completes (grade is A-F).
  • Any current course or courses for which a student is on extension.

The following do NOT count as course attempts:

  • Courses that a student has dropped (grade is DP)
  • Course credit that a student transferred into the program as transfer credit, Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), or residential credit.

Maximum number of semester hours per academic level:

  • Doctorate degree – maximum number of semester hours attempted is 86 semester hours or 28 courses.